Virat Kohli remains on top of ICC ODI rankings; India eye 2nd spot in upcoming West Indies series

Dubai: Virat Kohli retained the top spot among batsmen while India were placed third among ODI teams in the latest ICC Rankings issued on Thursday.

File image of Indias Virat Kohli. Reuters

Kohli leads South Africa's AB de Villiers by four points and he will aim to consolidate his number-one batting position and also help India reclaim the number-two ranking when he captains his side in the five-ODI series against the West Indies, starting Friday.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were at joint 10th in the list of batsmen while there were no Indians among top-10 bowlers and top-5 all-rounders.

India (116 points) can leapfrog second-placed Australia (117 points) by a fraction of a point if the Kohli-led side win all the five matches of the ODI series against the West Indies.

In contrast, if the West Indies win two matches in the series, then India will drop behind England in fourth place on 112 points. Victories in two matches will also lift the West Indies from 77 points to 81 points, thus, narrowing the gap with eighth-ranked Sri Lanka to 12 points.

In case India win the series 5-0, they will become number-two ODI side while it will drop the West Indies to 75 points and in all probability, will end their chances of qualifying automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

England, plus the next seven highest-ranked sides as on September 30, 2017, will qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup while the bottom four sides along with four sides from the World Cricket League Championship and two from the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 will feature in next year's ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.

The top two from the qualifiers will complete the 10-team line-up for the ICC's pinnacle 50-over event.

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